Deaths of 3 rugby players in Malaysia expose brutal side of heatwave

The deaths in quick succession of three rugby players in Malaysia have put renewed focus on the risks of competing in extreme heat and humidity, as climate change pushes temperatures higher across Southeast Asia.

On May 23, prop Azlan Azhari, playing for Kedah’s state team against Johor in the 2026 Agong Cup, a local interstate tournament, collapsed about five minutes after scoring a try. The 22-year-old was stretchered off the field and taken to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma but died two days later. The cause of death given was heatstroke, dehydration and organ failure.

Adam Putra Syahril, 21, passed away on May 23 after collapsing during a Penang Sukma rugby training session, while earlier last month, on May 10, former national team scrum-half Mohamad Khairul Abdillah Ramli, 34, suffered an aortic rupture on the bus home after an Agong Cup match.

While rugby players are accustomed to physical injury and the game’s collisions, primarily incurred through tackling, have become more violent as the size and speed of its athletes increase, the trio’s untimely deaths have raised questions about whether further adjustments should be made in countries like Malaysia where the weather is particularly unforgiving.

Rugby players in Malaysia often contend with temperatures north of 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit), as well as high humidity levels. That means additional strain for athletes, according to Yuri Hosokawa, associate professor at Waseda University’s Faculty of Sports Sciences. If the humidity is high, players “can’t really offset the heat gain through sweat”, she said. “In Asia, we struggle with that.”

World Rugby published guidelines for managing the risk of heat illness in 2025, which include a “graded intervention framework” that recommends increasing cooling, fluid intake and breaks in play depending on the conditions. But global warming means the situation has “changed drastically in the past few years”, Hosokawa said.